HowTo: Flashing Your System BIOS Under Linux

byVivek GiteonAugust 31, 2006

The BIOS is Basic Input/Output System used by a computer, which embedded on a chip on a computer's motherboard. It is used to controls various devices connected to your computer. When you turn on the computer, the BIOS starts up and perform a Power-On Self Test (POST). The BIOS will check all devices connected to your computer such as the CPU, RAM, the video card, the sound card and so on. Once the post test has completed, the BIOS will looks for Linux operating systems on the hard drive. At this point, the Linux takes over control of your computer and finishes starting up system in GUI or text based mode. The BIOS is stored in rewritable memory, which allows you to update old BIOS firmware with a newer version. This is known as flashing. A special program provided by the computer manufacturer to update BIOS. A newer version of BIOS may fix bugs, provide improved performance and/or may support newer hardware devices such as large hard drives or SCSI / SAS disks. You do not need to use MS-Windows or MS-DOS system for flashing the BIOS. You can use the Linux operating system. Here are some good articles that explain the BIOS flashing using Linux: